Quick Edit | Unlocking secrets

Black money, like cricket and politics, is one subject on which every Indian has an opinion. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s L.K. Advani has previously claimed that there is around Rs25,000 trillion (around half of India’s GDP) of such money—typically ill-gotten gains that are not declared—stashed abroad in countries with strict norms regarding secrecy of bank accounts. Some of that money may now be within reach, with India signing a deal with Switzerland which will give the former access to information that wasn’t previously accessible. The logical denouement of this deal should be investigations similar to the one where the US Internal Revenue Service sought, and received, in 2009, information on 4,450 UBS customers who evaded tax. But given the almost universal belief in India that at least some of those with Swiss bank accounts are politicians, would that be hoping for too much?